Safety cap for bottles



Dec. 17, 1957 F. A. ALLAN 2,816,677

SAFE'IY CAP FOR BOTTLES Filed Jan. 24, 1956 FIG/- 1N VENTOR F. ALEY ALLAN BY M 5 /VMM ATTORNEYS SAFETY CAP FOR BOTTLES Frederick Aley Allan, Arlington, Va.

Application January 24, 1956, Serial No. 560,980

6 Claims. (Cl. 215-9) This invention relates to closures for containers and more particularly to caps adapted to close containers by being threaded thereon. V

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved closure for containers.

More specifically it is an object of the invention to provide a safety screw type cap for containers for poisons and other non-potables constructed to make removal by small children diflicult or virtually impossible, and, because of the special manipulation required in its operation, serving as a significant warning to others.

An important object of the invention resides in the provision of a two piece device including an inner cap threaded for engagement with and closure of the container neck or top and a guard sleeve normally covering the gripping surface of the cap and freely rotatable thereon but partially displaceable with difliculty to permit gripping the cap periphery for unscrewing.

A further object is the provision of a closure assembly as described by the preceding objects and wherein the guard sleeve and cap have cooperating means which mustbe brought into alignment in order that the guard sleeve may be slid longitudinally over the cap.

An important feature of the invention consists in providing a container closure assembly including a screw or partial rotation locking cap and a guard sleeve rotatable thereon with bias means holding the sleeve in covering relation to the cap to prevent its being grasped for opening, the sleeve being slidable longitudinally on the cap against said bias means to expose a gripping surface on the cap.

Another important feature of the invention consists in the use of a bias spring requiring more effort to compress than can be exerted by a small child whereby children are precluded from opening a container fitted with a closure according to the present invention.

Other and further objects and features of the present invention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art upon a consideration of the accompanying drawing.

and following specification wherein is disclosed a single exemplary embodiment of the invention with the understanding that such changes may be made therein as fall within the scope of the appended claims Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In said drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-section showing the details of the closure unit and the manner in which it fits on a container;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view showing the guard sleeve in its downward position exposing a portion of the cap;

Fig. 3 isa top plan view of the unit showing the sleeve in properly oriented position for downward movement to expose the upper cap portion.

Fig. 4 is atop plan view of the inner cap portion shown independent of the sleeve; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the sleeve alone, partially hired States Patent 0 2,8lfi,677 Patented Dec. 17, 1957 "ice broken away to expose the locking and release grooves therein.

As shown in Fig. 1, closure unit 10 comprises a cap member 12 and a guard sleeve 14 freely rotatable thereon. The normal relation of these elements is maintained by a helical spring 16 carried by and between them. This closure unit is adapted for threaded mounting on a container 11 to close the neck of the same.

Describing the invention in more detail, cap member 12 has'internal threads 20 which are sized for threaded engagement with screw threads 21 on container neck 22 as shown in Fig. 1. The cap wall adjacent the open end thereof has an outwardly turnedportion forming a radial flange 24. The cap is provided on its cylindrical outer surface with a generally hemispherical protuberance or lug 25 seen in Figs. 1, 3 and 4 adapted to cooperate with the sleeve 14 as will be later described.

The guard sleeve 14 is of such size that it will fit over and freely rotate about the cap member 12 and is generally cylindrical in shape and slightly longer than the cap member. For appearance and ease of use the sleeve upper end 26 may be chamfered as shown in Figs. 1 and a 5. The major portion of the length of the guard sleeve is formed with an inner annular recess 30 forming a top shoulder 32 and an internal bottom flange 34. The upper portion of the inner face of the sleeve is provided with an independent annular groove 35 in which lug 25 freely and slidably rides to prevent relative longitudinal movement between cap and sleeve. Groove 35 has a vertical cut out or branch 36 as seen in Figs. 1 and 3 large enough to allow the lug 25 to slip out of groove 35 when brought into registration therewith and there is relative vertical movement between sleeve and cap. This arrange- 25 and the cut out 36 must be brought into registry before the guard sleeve may be pushed downwardly against the action of spring 16, later to be described, to expose a por tion of cap member 12.

The outwardly turned cap flange 24 has an outside diameter slightly less than the diameter of the sleeve recess 30 so that the sleeve can be caused to ride up and down over this flange. Consequently flange 24 is in confronting relation with shoulder 32 of the sleeve and flange 34 at the sleeve bottom acts to prevent the sleeve from being removed from the cap. This latter function is also effected by the cooperation of lug 25 with the lower wall of groove 35.

In order to maintain the cap and guard sleeve in the normal position as shown in Fig. 1, the helical spring is positioned in recess 30 so that its one end will bear on shoulder 32 and the other on flange 24. With this arrangement, sleeve 14 has limited vertical sliding movement along the length of the cap thereby providing a telescoping action between the cap and sleeve. By using an edgewise wound spring as shown the range of movement is increased while keeping the unit length at a minimum.

In Fig. 2 the lug 25 and cut out 36 have been brought into registration and the guard sleeve 14 has been pushed downwardly agains the helical spring 16 to expose the upper peripheral portion of cap 12. As indicated in this figure, the outer vertical surface of the cap may be corrugated or otherwise roughened so as to afford a better means of gripping the cap when unscrewing same from the container neck.

As shown in Fig. 3 the guard sleeve 14 has been rotated so as to bring lug 25 on the cap into alignment with cut out 36 which enters the groove in the guard sleeve 14 so that the sleeve may be pushed downwardly to expose the cap.

The operation and use of this closure unit is more or iess obvious; however, a brief description may be useful in summarizing the features and advantages.

As previously mentioned, the primary purpose of the closure unit is to prevent children from opening con: tainers holding dangerous material, In addition, by serving as a warning to others that the container contents are poisonous or potentially dangerous, it will prevent unconscious opening by anyone. The guard sleeve 14 telescopically fits over cap 12 and is freely rotatable there about. In order to screw the cap on or remove it from the container threaded portion, it vis necessary to rotate the guard sleeve and bring the lug 25 into alignment with cut out 36 and then move the guard sleeve downwardly relative to the cap against the spring :bias so .as to expose a portion of the cap as indicated in-Fig. 2. This affords a gripping portion so that one may turn the capto screw it on or remove it from the threaded portion of the container. In other words, this closure unit has a double safety arrangement, first the lug '25 must' be aligned with the cut out 36 in grove 35 and then the guard sleevemay be pushed down to expose the cap. This virtually eliminates accidental opening of the closure unit.

Having thus described my invention, what -I claim as novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A closure unit for a container having a threaded neck, in combination, a cap internally threaded to engage over the neck and close the latter, the outer surface of the cap being substantially cylindrical and having a roughened grasping surface at its upper end, a guard sleeve telescoped over said cap, always freely rotatable thereon and long enough to cover and prevent grasping any portion of the cap to rotate the same, said sleeve having a fully open upper end to provide for limited sliding movement downwardly over the cap to expose said grasping surface and means biasing said sleeve to cover said gripping surface and thus guard the cap.

2. The device as described in claim 1 wherein the guard sleeve and cap have means interfitting in the upper position of the sleeve to prevent vertical-movement thereof, and means to release said interfit on proper orientation of cap and sleeve so that the guard sleeve may bemoved downwardly over the cap to expose the upper end of the latter.

3. The device as described in claim 2 wherein the cooperating means on the guard sleeve and cap comprises a lug on one member and a circular grove adapted to slidably carry the lug in the other member, said groove having a cut out of sufficient size to allow the lug to pass out of the groove when in alignment with the cut out.

4. A closure for attachment to a container by relative rotation on the neck thereof, in combination, a cap having internal container engaging means and a generally cylindrical exterior, roughened near its upper end to provide a grasping surface, a guard sleeve longer than the cylindrical portion of said cap, normally enclosing the same, said sleeve being open at the upper end and freely rotatable and longitudinally slidable over the cap, cooperating means on cap and sleeve to limit said sliding movement in an upward direction and bias means resisting such movement in the downward direction, and a surface at the upper end of the sleeve adapted to be engaged to press it down to expose said grasping surface.

5. A closure unit adapted for a container having a threaded neck, said closure unit comprising an internally threaded cap adapted to be threadedly mounted on a threaded container neck to close the latter, an open ended guard sleeve telescoped over said cap and freely rotatable therearound, said sleeve being longer than the cap so as to cover same and having limited sliding movement downwardly over the cap to expose a gripping portion near the top of the latter, and spring means biasing said sleeve upwardly to maintain the guard sleeve over the cap.

6. The device as described in claim 5 wherein the cap has an outwardly turned flange element adjacent the open end thereof, and the sleeve has a shoulder element on its inner face adjacent its upper end so that the spring means may be interposed between these two elements to maintain the sleeve up over the cap gripping portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

